Koukennin
by hijipine
Summary: Eight years after Pein's attack, Umino Iruka is 'promoted' to be the protector of Konoha's most forbidden jutsus.  Hatake Kakashi has been assigned to be his assistant.  Neither man is happy about the situation. Kakashi/Iruka, Iruka/Kakashi.
1. Chapter 1

Kouken-nin (The Guardian)

Chapter One

_Funny,_ Umino Iruka thought, _how just a few words can send your life to hell._

"I'm sorry, Godaime-sama," Iruka said, hoping he'd misheard her. "Did you just say I'm now assigned to the Lair?"

Tsunade waved her hand impatiently. "Yes, you heard me. I'm taking you off the Mission Desk and assigning you to the Lair as its new Guardian."

The Lair. The resting place for Konoha's most secret, dangerous jutsus, stored deep within the Hokage Tower, guarded by Old Koya, a nin with a task so secret that he was rarely seen by any other than the Hokage.

Rumor had it that Koya had been found dead a few days before, suffocated within one of his own traps. No one knew where the rumor had begun, or whether or not it was true. There had been no funeral, no mourners, not even a name on the Memorial; just whispers and furtive, shared glances as the news traveled through the ranks of the jounin and trickled down to chuunin level, and Iruka.

And now Tsunade-sama wanted him to be the Guardian.

"Forgive me, Hokage-sama, but..." Iruka desperately searched his mind for a diplomatic refusal, "...I don't think I'm qualified for the position. Wasn't Koya-san a jounin?"

"Jounin, chuunin, it doesn't matter, so long as you've got the security clearance. You're organized, and you're good with traps- er, secure filing systems."

_Not good. REALLY not good._ Iruka had seen the former Guardian once, years ago, while playing shogi with the Sandaime. Koya had lurked in the shadows, tall and grim, with cold, dark eyes and gray hair that tumbled over his shoulders and was bound at the end by chakra thread hung with seals. The Sandaime had politely excused himself and the two men had left the room, Koya throwing a sharp, suspicious look at thirteen-year-old Iruka. Iruka remembered the shiver that had gone through him; he'd been close to death before, but still he'd been nearly overwhelmed by the man's killing intent.

_This is crazy. I do NOT want to become some sort of secret, creepy, psycho-killer-librarian nin._

"But my security clearance-"

"You've been promoted to For-Hokage-Eyes-Only clearance."

_Damn. _Iruka tried a different tack. "I'm honored by your trust, of course. However, I'm concerned that it might interfere with my teaching-"

"There's an assistant."

"Ah... Thank you." There had to be some way to keep from being saddled with the most fucking dangerous – and potentially insanity-inducing – job in all of Konoha, S-rank missions included. "But Tsunade-sama, surely Koya-san's assistant should be promoted to his position-"

"Everyone tells me you're the best." Her eyes narrowed and a calculating smile crossed her face. "Something about a misspent youth."

Iruka swallowed hard, thoughts flying, searching for some avenue of escape. "I'm sure the rumors of my – ah – youthful escapades have been exaggerated. Really, you want someone far more experienced for such an important job than a man who pulled one or two pranks as a child."

Tsunade pushed a thick folder across her desk. "I wasn't born yesterday, Umino. This is the _de_classified folder of your so-called 'youthful escapades.'" Her smile made Iruka shiver. "I understand that the classified file is safely stored away in the Lair."

So the Sandaime had kept records. Iruka bowed his head in defeat. "There's no way I can refuse this, is there?"

"I'll give you a pay rise," Tsunade consoled. "And the health coverage for the position is phenomenal, better even than mine. Plus full funeral expenses and a lifetime pension for your heirs if the worst should happen to you."

Oh, great. Blood money for Naruto if he died and the equivalent of his own private room at the hospital if he survived. "And if I should be injured on the job – theoretically, of course – and, er, lose my cognitive abilities, falling into a persistent vegetative state?"

"I'll personally make sure that your room overlooks the Academy playground, so you can continue to watch over your students in spirit," Tsunade promised.

He was so dead. "I understand, Hokage-sama."

"I've put you on sabbatical from the Academy until you finish the task. After you've cleaned things up, it's simply a matter of changing out the traps on a daily basis, so it shouldn't interfere with your teaching. You'll have a proper system set up in no time. Here's the file," she added, pushing a stack of folders and scrolls at him. "I'm most concerned about the area housing the Fourth's research. Make sure it's secure."

Iruka gathered up the materials, stabilizing the unsteady pile he held with his chin as best he could while juggling a couple of the loose scrolls. "Yes, Hokage-sama."

"I want you to get started right away." Tsunade waved him out of her office with a disturbingly self-satisfied smile, looking more like someone who had found a ripe sucker for the fleecing than a hokage satisfied that she had found the perfect guardian for Konoha's darkest secrets.

As the door closed behind him, Iruka began to compose his Last Will and Testament, wondering if he should leave his meager possessions to the orphanage or direct his executor to pile them on top of Tsunade's desk and set fire to them as a last commentary on Iruka's opinion of her eventual posthumous destination.

The stack of materials met its pre-destined rendezvous with gravity just before Iruka reached the top of the flight of stairs that crept up the side of his apartment building and ended at his door. Cursing, he started down again, bending to retrieve loose pages.

The scrolls, unfortunately, rolled down all three flights.

Oo000oO

Iruka opened another door and poked his head inside. Empty. He cursed to himself. Another dead end.

Where the hell was Kimiko? He'd been surprised to find that she was still Koya's assistant; Iruka hadn't heard from her in years.

And when he _did_ find her, things were likely to be awkward, since their breakup had been pretty abrupt and painful. He'd been ripe pickings for Mizuki's too-good-to-be-true charm and attention.

He cursed with a great deal of fervent imagination and retraced his steps to the Lair.

Five bloody hours later, Iruka managed to disable the traps that the late and now-very-much-unlamented Koya-san had set on his _desk_, for hokage's sake. Yet, having paid the price of a singed eyebrow and a torn hitai-ate, all he had to show for his efforts were a petrified eraser and the leaky half of a broken red ballpoint. Drawers, files, desktop – all empty.

"Underneath the underneath, my ass," Iruka muttered to himself. "Where the hell did he keep his records?"

_And where the hell is Kimiko? She's not avoiding me, is she?_

Another few minutes of increasingly irritated trap disabling – as well as a wrenched shoulder sustained in a hair's breadth escape from an impalement jutsu he'd accidentally triggered – and Iruka was ready to quit his new job and become a missing nin.

It was only for Naruto's sake that he decided to go see the Hokage first.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

The summons came sooner than Kakashi had expected, though he wasn't really surprised. He stared blindly at his _Icha Icha_ for another two hours before he finally decided to confront Tsunade and get it over with.

Shinobi died all the time, after all.

He pushed the memory of vacant white eyes from his mind, put his book in his vest pocket, and donned his best bored expression before exiting his apartment.

Kakashi wasn't sure if it was his imagination or not, but it seemed like no one he met on his walk to the Hokage Tower dared to look him in the eye. They'd probably heard, already. Even the ANBU guarding the Hokage's office stared straight ahead as Kakashi knocked before he pushed the door open.

He slouched into the office. "Yo."

Tsunade looked up, sliding something off the desk and into a drawer while she directed a disarming glare at Kakashi. "Oi, brat. Took you long enough to answer my summons."

"It looks like you had plenty to keep you company," Kakashi replied, looking at an empty sake flask half-hidden under a pile of scrolls.

Tsunade sighed and pulled another flask back out of the drawer where she'd obviously tried to hide it. "Grab a cup. We've got to talk."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow and accepted the cup of sake that Tsunade handed to him. "Whatever happened, I'm sure that I had nothing to do with it. Unless it involved mind-blowing sex," he added after thinking about it for a moment.

"Not that kind of talk. Sit."

He didn't like the sound of that at all. The only time Tsunade offered a chair to a jounin was when she was either about to call Ibiki in to start an interrogation, or when she was going to ask for a loan to pay off a gambling debt. Kakashi sat in the chair in front of Tsunade's desk, poised to escape as soon as an opportunity presented itself. He sipped his sake cautiously.

"I'm assigning you to a new position."

Kakashi didn't display any sign of surprise, though his gut twisted. He'd been expecting something like this. Over the past year he'd slipped a couple of times, coming dangerously close to not only losing his life, but worse, endangering Konoha by failing his assignment, and his last mission had turned into a fiasco. They shouldn't trust him with teams, damn it. He always managed to destroy them, no matter how hard he tried to keep them safe.

This time was obviously the last straw. Still, that didn't mean he wasn't about to go down without a fight. He'd been a ninja his entire life. He wasn't about to give it up now.

He gave Tsunade a fake eye-smile and a smooth misdirect. "Maa, Tsunade-sama. I'm afraid I don't swing towards older women." He was damned if she was going to put him to pasture so easily.

She glared at him. "You're thirty-seven," she said, ignoring the slight. "That's ancient by shinobi standards."

_Okay, maybe not ignoring it altogether. _

Kakashi remained silent. She was right. He'd outlived his generation and most of the generation that followed, and far too many of his students' generation. Only Kurenai, Gai and Ibiki came close to his longevity, and Kurenai and Gai had chosen to teach genin apprentices for the past six years, forgoing most high-ranking field missions, while Ibiki was still going strong as the head of Interrogation.

"You may have heard the rumors," Tsunade continued. "I'm splitting Interrogation and Intelligence into two departments. I need someone to head the new Intelligence Division."

"I thought Nara Shikamaru's name had been floating around as a possibility," Kakashi replied, not denying he'd kept up with the rumor mill.

"He will be. Later. I need someone else, someone with more name recognition, to get it started."

"And you think that's me."

"Yes." Tsunade leaned forward, both hands flat on her desk. "But I'm giving you a choice."

_Fuck that._ "I'm fine where I am."

"No, you're not. I'm pulling you out of the field. Here are your choices. One, you can head up the new Intelligence Division until Shikamaru has a few years to build his reputation. Two, I can assign you a new genin team. One you don't have any choice but to train."

Damn. He'd been hoping for something better. "I'm not a paper pusher," Kakashi said, barely keeping his anger from flaring out of control. "Or a babysitter."

"You're whatever I need you to be, shinobi."

Stung, Kakashi stood, pushing the chair aside. "Of course, Godaime-Hokage-sama. I'm Konoha's tool to command." He set his sake cup on her desk with insolent deliberation. "May I start stocking my new desk with liquor now, or should I wait until my ass has spread and I need to cast a jutsu to hide my flabby paunch?"

Tsunade's eyes flashed. "Don't get snotty with me—"

An ANBU slipped into the office and Tsunade paused, then nodded as some sort of silent communication flew between them. "Send him in."

The ANBU slipped out, and a moment later, the door opened again and a man slipped in.

"Tsunade-sama," he began, then paused. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize someone was already with you."

Naruto's teacher. _Umino Iruka._ Kakashi occasionally saw the man around, even vaguely remembered a few interactions with him. He'd even been bored to tears several times by stories his former team had gushed about _Iruka-sensei_. Especially Naruto. Not surprising; Umino looked soft, and he obviously coddled his students. Naruto would have eaten that softness up; he had a weakness for overly-kind people.

Unfamiliar anger boiled inside. _She's letting a teacher butt in during the meeting where she strips me of my fucking LIFE?_

Tsunade waved her hand impatiently. "The Guardian takes priority over a jounin."

The Guardian? The rumors were true, then. That old bastard, Koya, was really gone. And it sounded like Tsunade had appointed this little chuunin schoolteacher to take his place. Kakashi lifted an eyebrow and crossed his arms, slouching against Tsunade's desk. Talk about fiascos. Hell, she must really think that Kakashi was washed up if she hadn't offered the position to him, first.

He examined the man in front of him. Stocky, about Kakashi's height, a bit more shoulder breadth to him, but slight through the hips and thighs. Gray streak starting over the right temple, otherwise fit and healthy-looking. But not shinobi. Likely no time spent out in the field for months if not years, no lean, hungry shinobi look to him. He might as well be a civilian. A complete waste of all the skills he'd had to have acquired to make chuunin rank.

So what the hell made him good enough to be appointed as the Guardian?

Kakashi suddenly remembered the time the teacher had challenged his authority when he'd nominated Naruto for his first Chuunin Exam, and the fact that the Third had taken the man's objections seriously enough not to address Umino's insolence. From what Kakashi had observed, Umino was the perfect brown-noser, holding a series of cushy jobs, prone to be argumentative with anyone he didn't have to answer to, first the Sandiame's pet and now obviously Tsunade's.

_That must be how he got the job._ "Well, speak up," Kakashi said. "I don't think Tsunade-sama is done with me yet, and I don't have all night."

Umino's face flushed with embarrassment. He bowed to Kakashi. "I apologize for interrupting, Hatake-san."

_Bulls-eye. Kisses ass with the best._ "He's the new Guardian?" Kakashi drawled. "Maa, Tsunade-sama, I didn't realize you were that desperate for candidates."

"Shut up, brat." She glared at Umino. "What is it?"

Umino shot a glare at Kakashi before bowing his head to Tsunade. "I can't find Koya-san's assistant, Kimiko-san, anywhere. I've managed to clear a path to Koya-san's desk without her, but the desk is empty. Is there another place where Koya-san might have kept his records?"

"Damn." Tsunade chewed her lower lip. "I was afraid of that."

"Afraid of what?" Umino asked, looking apprehensive.

"Koya was notorious for keeping secrets," Kakashi replied, making himself sound bored and superior while secretly amused. _Take that, Brown-Noser._ "He never wrote anything down."

"Nothing?" Umino asked, eyes widening. Kakashi watched his Adam's apple bob.

_Afraid of failing, schoolteacher?_

Tsunade lifted her chin. "That's why I hired you," she said to Umino. "We need the best. I'll arrange for someone to look for Kimiko. But don't wait for her. Get back to work."

Kakashi scoffed. "The best? Or the most expendable?"

A flare of killing intent flashed from Umino, though he stayed silent. Kakashi would have been more impressed if the man had actually spoken up. He bet anything that Umino would have if Tsunade hadn't been in the room.

Tsunade glared at Kakashi. "He's better with traps than you are."

Kakashi found that hard to believe. "He's just a chuunin."

Umino broke. "And everyone knows chuunin are nothing but a bunch of inept fools," he snapped.

"That's right," Kakashi replied, unperturbed. "And don't forget expendable."

"You pompous bastard-!"

Tsunade's fist impacted her desk hard enough to make it bounce. "Both of you cool it before I cool _you_! Permanently!"

"Your pardon, Tsunade-sama," Umino replied stiffly. Kakashi didn't bother to say anything, just examined his fingernails.

Tsunade regarded them in a way that suddenly gave Kakashi a Very Bad Feeling. He avoided her eye and tried to look harmless.

"Come to think of it, brat, that Sharingan of yours would probably come in handy."

Umino's jaw dropped.

Kakashi managed to hide his consternation better, though barely. "No." Tsunade continued to stare at him speculatively, and Kakashi straightened to his full height, fully alarmed. "No."

"I say 'yes.' You're officially on this mission now, too." Tsunade turned to Umino. "He's yours for the next three weeks. Use him well. And keep your eyes open," she added, including Kakashi in her glare. "Something about this situation feels off to me. I don't like the fact that Kimiko can't be found. I don't believe in coincidences. Not when it comes to the Lair."

Umino's eye twitched, though his voice was steady. "As you wish, Hokage-sama."

Kakashi couldn't fucking believe it. She'd assigned him to be an _assistant._ A fucking chuunin-teacher-with-inflated-ambitions' _assistant_.

Tsunade's gaze softened a bit as she turned back to Umino, and Kakashi mentally cast a black mark against the day she had been made Hokage. "And if Kakashi gives you any trouble – any at all – let me know." She fixed Kakashi with a glare. "Kakashi, Iruka's your superior. I expect you to obey him as if he were me." She seemed to think better of her words. "Scratch that. I expect you to obey him as if he were the Fourth. Got it?"

Kakashi gave a curt nod. "I understand, Tsunade-sama." As if her threats would really keep him in line. What the hell did he have to lose, after all?

"You're both dismissed."

Umino's shoulders dropped and he sighed. "Follow me, Hatake-san. I'll show you what we're dealing with." He bowed to Tsunade. "Hokage-sama."

Kakashi stared at the back of Umino's neck, projecting a wave of bored contempt at the man. He was gratified to see a flush of color rise above Umino's collar as the teacher led the way out of the Godaime's office.


	3. Chapter 3

Oo000oO

Iruka groaned inwardly. Great. Not only did he have deadly traps and a missing assistant to deal with, he just got saddled with a perverted prima donna jounin with a chip on his shoulder.

"Shoot me now," he muttered as they headed toward the Lair.

"Complaining already, Iruka-_sensei_?"

Iruka whirled and jabbed a finger at Hatake. "You're not any happier than I am about this!"

Hatake smirked lazily, though his visible eye was cold. "Maa, _sensei_. What are you talking about? I'm perfectly happy _assisting_ the Guardian."

"Cut the crap." Iruka took a deep breath. He hated the advantage that Hatake's mask gave the jounin, especially since he knew his own expressions were so transparent. "Look. Something's going on."

"Hmm." It was astonishing how much contempt Hatake could express with so little of his face visible.

"I mean it!" Iruka snarled. "Tsunade-sama's right. Something feels off about all of this. The Lair is a death-trap, but it's hard for me to believe that Koya-san got caught in one of his own snares. Not when I can unravel them."

"Ah. So you're saying Koya-san wasn't as good as you are with traps." Hatake slouched against the wall of the corridor, arms crossed. "Maybe Tsunade-sama should have made you Guardian a long time ago."

"That's not what I'm saying!"

"Or maybe Koya-san didn't get caught in one of _his_ traps," Hatake continued, his tone mocking. "I imagine that it would be a simple job for someone with 'greater talents' to arrange for a little... accident."

The damned insinuating bastard! "I don't want this job! I've been forced into it! So don't start accusing me of-" Iruka paused, mind whirling.

Hatake looked bored. "I'm not accusing you of anything."

"Shut up!" Iruka ignored Hatake's hostile stare and thought back to the traps that he'd unraveled earlier in the day. "Wait. Go back a second. You said maybe Koya-san didn't get caught in one of _his_ traps."

"Are you admitting to setting one for him, _sensei_?"

"No." Iruka shook his head, frowning. "But what if you're right? What if someone else set one?"

Hatake pushed himself from the wall and the bored look disappeared. He frowned. "Did you sense anyone else's chakra signature in the room?"

Iruka shook his head again. "But I wasn't looking for it, either."

"A suspicious death-"

"That's just it, I don't know if anyone really thought Koya-san's death was that suspicious," Iruka said slowly. He met Hatake's eye. "He was old, paranoid, isolated. The report that Tsunade-sama gave me this morning said that he was found suffocated, with chakra burns around his throat, next to a series of strangulation traps. The conclusion in the report was 'accidental death'."

Hatake looked thoughtful, his visible eye half-lidded but keen. "No mention of an investigation?"

"No. None." Iruka's pride struggled for a brief moment with his sense of duty. Duty triumphed. "Look, Hatake-san, I know that you're not happy working with me. But I could really use someone's help. I'm good with traps, and I'm not stupid, but I have no formal experience conducting an investigation. And even if I were experienced, this is too important to Konoha's security to depend on just one person." He clenched his fists and, after another internal struggle, forced himself into a bow. "Will you help me find out the truth behind Koya-san's death and Kimiko-san's disappearance?"

The silence drew out before Hatake finally sighed. "I'm not promising anything. But I'll take a look."

"Thank you, Hatake-san." Iruka straightened. "I appreciate any assistance you can offer," he lied.

Oo000oO

Kakashi slouched against the doorframe and looked around the Lair with his Sharingan. He raised an eyebrow. Umino hadn't been exaggerating when he'd called it a death-trap. "There's enough chakra in this room to bring down the Tower."

"Don't I know it." Umino stood beside the desk looking around the room, despair plain on his expressive features. "It took me most of the day just to make a six-foot path to the desk and clear it of traps."

Given the almost insane proliferation of traps overlaying the room, Kakashi was reluctantly impressed by Umino's feat. Even with the Sharingan, it was difficult to determine where to start.

The Lair was vast, far larger than Kakashi would have imagined, walls covered by scrollshelves from floor to ceiling and stretching deep into the interior of the Tower. Three rows of free-standing shelves ran the length of the room, their far ends hidden in shadows. Scrolls of every shape and size were piled haphazardly on the shelves, looking for all the world as if they were the forgotten odds-and-ends of a millennium of forgetful scholars instead of the repository of some of the most fearsome jutsus known to man.

Every surface blazed with traps.

Kakashi could feel the tomoe in his Sharingan whirl as his mind tried to sort through and memorize the layout. Too much at a time, and he'd exhaust his chakra. He closed his left eye and pulled his hitai-ate down to cover it.

"Tsunade-sama gave me a map to the room," Umino said, pulling a scroll from a vest pocket. "I know where things are shelved. I just don't know what the traps are or how they're set."

He rolled the scroll out on the desk and weighted the edges with kunai to hold it open.

Kakashi peered over Umino's shoulder. "Does the Hokage have a particular place she wants you to protect?"

"Mmm." Umino pointed to an area of the map far in the back of the room. "She's most concerned about what's stored here. It's the Fourth's research on time/space interrelations." He hesitated, then added, "And on seals."

His sensei's work. Kakashi glanced at Umino's worried expression. The man was most likely thinking about Naruto and the Kyuubi. "I'd like to read through those, too," Kakashi murmured. Maybe he could find something that could get him out in the field again.

Umino glanced sharply at him, studying his face. Secure that his mask hid his expression, Kakashi merely returned the gaze, arching one eyebrow in challenge.

Something like speculation flickered in Umino's eyes, but he didn't say anything. He turned back to the map. "There's no easy way to get back there. Not only are all of the aisles layered with traps from top to bottom, but Koya-san trapped the ceiling and floors, too."

"Have you thought about going in from the other side of the wall?"

Umino nodded. "This whole area of the Tower is sealed, though. Here's the jutsu for it." He pulled a paper from his pocket and laid it next to the scroll.

"Well, that one's not going to be unsealed any time soon," Kakashi observed after a moment.

"I should hope not, since it would mean that every Konoha bloodline, shinobi or civilian, will have been wiped off the face of the earth," Umino said. "Tsunade-sama said the First designed and set the seal. It's stood since then, even when the rest of the Tower was destroyed during Pein's attack."

"Everything he created has a tendency to last, doesn't it?"

Umino nodded. "Though this time I wish it hadn't. Or at least, that it had a counter-seal. You can see, it surrounds the exterior of this entire suite of rooms."

"Suite?"

"Uh," Umino shifted, clearly uncomfortable. "It appears that the Guardian was expected to live here."

"To be permanently available if an emergency arose." Kakashi nodded. "I'm sure it has all the amenities, sensei. Maybe even a wine cellar."

"Look, I'm not planning to move in—"

"Is there any indication of the key that Koya used to set and disable the traps?" Kakashi interrupted.

Umino huffed and glared, but answered reasonably civilly after taking a deep breath. "As far as I can see, he had cascading groups set up, each with its own key. I've counted eleven in this area alone. Hokage knows how many he has set up around the really dangerous stuff." He frowned. "I'm worried about the disappearance of Koya-san's assistant."

"You don't think she's just mislaid somewhere around the village, do you?"

"I've got a feeling..." Umino made a sharp gesture. "It's stupid, but I have the same itch at the back of my neck that I get when a pre-gen training kunai is headed my way."

"She's probably just shacked up with some guy."

Umino shrugged. "Maybe. I hope so."

Now the back of _Kakashi's_ neck prickled. "If she's gone missing-"

"Yeah." Umino looked around the room, his normally pleasant face grim. "An enemy would pay an astronomical sum of money for information about what's in this room and how to get past the traps."

"Tsunade-sama is worried. That's why we only have three weeks," Kakashi realized.

Umino nodded. "Do you think we even have that long?"

"I don't see how we could make a dent in these traps in any less time," Kakashi said, remembering what his Sharingan had revealed. "The Guardian and anyone who's his assistant hold top-security positions. The assistant would have received training from Ibiki in ways to resist torture. Of course, she could be a traitor."

"She's not a traitor!"

Interesting. Umino had a blind spot for the assistant. Kakashi decided to probe it. "How do you know?"

"I was in the Academy with her." Umino blushed for some reason. "She'd never betray Konoha."

"You really are the most stupid, trusting ninja in Konoha, aren't you?" Kakashi met Umino's furious glare. "Or do you have some kind of psychic jutsu that allows you to read people's minds?"

Umino looked down, clenching his hands. "I know her," he said, his voice surprisingly quiet. "At least, at one time I knew her. I find it impossible to believe that she would betray Konoha."

"Betrayal is easier than you seem to think, sensei."

Umino met his eyes. "Trust is, too."

Kakashi didn't bother to reply. Now he could understand why Tsunade had assigned him to work with Umino. An attitude like his would undoubtedly lead to lax security. He knew Umino made a good teacher, because his team had displayed better-than-average skills as new genin. But as good as Umino was at teaching, he was obviously not a real shinobi when it came to practical applications of his knowledge. This whole 'trust' thing, for example. It could prove deadly to Konoha if it weren't tempered.

Kakashi vaguely recollected an incident during a long-ago mission involving a young nin with a distinctive scar over his nose who refused to kill an enemy, and resigned himself to watching Umino like a hawk. Accidental betrayal could be just as destructive as the deliberate kind.

He privately damned the chuunin's seeming ability to wrap hokages around his fingers like indulgent grandparents. "Let's get started," he said, sighing.

Oo000oO

Kakashi pondered his course of action as they spent the rest of the day identifying priority areas.

"The traps aren't as random as they seem," Umino said. "Look. See how those earth jutsus are layered over there?"

Kakashi studied the area Umino pointed to. "Ah. I see what you mean. Hidden behind them is a pretty powerful water jutsu."

"Anyone tripping that series of earth traps might try to counter with a stronger earth jutsu, or a wind or lightning jutsu, maybe even fire, but the water jutsu behind the earth traps would give strength to the original traps and overwhelm anything other than the most powerful lightning jutsu. Looks like it could take out more than one person, too."

"Hmmm." Reluctantly, Kakashi had to admit that Umino knew his traps. He gave him an appraising look. "Have you given any thought to how you're going to redesign the protections?"

Iruka nodded. "We'll probably never know Koya-san's key, but it looks like it was a verbal one. Or more likely a series of verbal commands. It would leave his hands free for fighting if someone were to breach the Hokage Tower and make it down this far. I'd like to do something similar, but reinforce it with chakra signatures. The Hokage's and mine, at least."

"Not mine?"

"No." The refusal was quiet, but firm. "You're my assistant while we're stripping out the old traps, but unless Tsunade-sama tells me to add you, I'm not going to."

Kakashi wasn't worried. If he was head of Intelligence, he'd get the access. If he turned the job down, a little sake and a poker game should do it. Umino's eyes narrowed, and Kakashi had the sudden disturbing thought that maybe the sensei was psychic after all, but then Iruka's face relaxed into the disapproving lines that Kakashi was familiar with, and the moment passed.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Iruka executed another textbook roundhouse against the training post, aiming for head-height. Again. Again. Again.

Imagining Hatake Kakashi's face on the post helped immensely with his frustration.

The day promised to be beautiful, the early morning already sunny with a breeze cool enough to allow for a vigorous workout without chilling him once he finished. The training field was blessedly empty, a rare quiet that helped to offset Iruka's tension. He figured a good workout would help him to relax a bit before facing the daunting task of continuing to clear the Lair. He'd not slept much the previous night, worried about Kimiko's disappearance and the possibility that Koya's death hadn't been an accident.

He'd also spent too damned much time worrying about Hatake's attitude.

He forced the thoughts away and tried to focus on his form. Again. Again. Again.

Damn. It was so hard to keep in shape, especially with his schedule. Though he supposed he could take his time today, since all he had to look forward to was dismantling traps that could maim or kill him and having to put up with that asshole.

The traps were definitely the lesser of the two evils. Again. Again.

"Maa, _sensei_, you'd be in a better position to follow through if you extended your kicking leg higher and kept your weight better centered over your pivot leg."

Iruka gave the post an extra-hard snap. "Go away, Hatake-san. I'm busy." Again. Again.

Hatake dropped lightly from the trees and leaned against another post nearby. "You're rusty."

Iruka counted to ten. "Yes. I'm rusty. That's why I'm training." Again. Again.

"I doubt that training on your own will make much difference," Hatake observed. "Your form is good, but your timing stinks. Usually enemy nin aren't keen on standing in one place long enough to let you set up a kick like that."

"I've done quite a few missions, you know," Iruka retorted. He started roundhouses with his other leg, hoping Hatake would get the message, though he grudgingly incorporated Hatake's pointers into his moves, since it was good advice. Again. Again. Again.

"Mmm. I took a look at your file."

Iruka stopped and whirled to face Hatake, hands clenched. "That's confidential! Only the Hokage has access to those files!"

"Mainly courier and simple retrievals, it appears," Hatake continued, ignoring Iruka.

"I've done A-rank missions, too," Iruka retorted. "Even though it's obvious that you don't have the decency to give me credit for them."

"Ten years ago."

Iruka blinked and paused, his automatic retort dying on his lips. Had it really been that long?

"I'm just wondering, you see, why a chuunin like you has been appointed as the Guardian?"

"You want the position? You can have it," Iruka replied, distracted, stunned by the knowledge that he hadn't gone on any high-ranking missions for… oh shit, for a decade. He abruptly sat on the grass and stared at the training post. "I don't believe it."

Hatake squatted beside him. "Neither do I. You don't have the qualifications."

Iruka ignored him. "Ten years." He'd known he'd been out of the field for a while, and his recent interactions with Hatake had spurred him to intensify his training, if only for pride's sake. But was it too late? Could he realistically ever become a field nin again? Yes, he knew the basics down to the letter, having taught them for so long, and yes, his skills were still sharp, because he had little hellions to watch over and prepare to survive in a very hostile world all while keeping them from killing themselves or their fellow students and teachers. But the instincts. How much had they atrophied? Coupled with the reluctance to kill that had taken him out of field service in the first place, could he really call himself a nin anymore?

Iruka became aware of a hard finger poking him in the arm.

"…sei. Sensei. Sen—"

"Stop poking me!"

Hatake eye crinkled into a smile and he dropped his hand to his knee. "I could have killed you a hundred times while you had your little crisis."

"You could kill me a hundred times over even if I was on my best game," Iruka said. He couldn't keep the bitterness from his voice.

"You've gone soft." Amazingly, Hatake didn't sound snide about it, even though his words were blunt. "Not your body. You still look like a nin. You even move like a nin most of the time. But any edge that you had is gone."

"I'm thirty-four," Iruka whispered. "I'm still alive. Most of my classmates—"

A sudden tension swept over Hatake, and he abruptly stood, startling Iruka. "Stop feeling sorry for yourself. So you're alive. What about it? It doesn't matter if you're alive or dead, there are always missions that need to be done."

Iruka stared at him, shocked. But before he could say anything, Hatake leapt into a nearby tree and disappeared.

It really wasn't going to be a good day. Iruka sighed, stood, and resumed his training. Pointless as it seemed to be, now. But if he could get lost in the repetition…

Maybe he wouldn't be so disgusted with himself.

Again. Again. Again.

But his mind refused to disengage.

He was thirty-four, and a chuunin. He wasn't ashamed of that, per se – he knew his limitations, and while he was sure he could have passed the jounin exam, he was realistic enough to realize that he'd have been a weak one at best, particularly since he didn't have the mindset to be an assassin. But when he'd made that decision all those years ago, he'd really only thought about it in terms of where he could do the most good for the village. He remembered thinking the only real impact it would have on him would be on his career, and his ego wasn't so big that a modest career worried him.

He'd never given a thought to the fact that his career as a chuunin schoolteacher meant that he'd likely survive longer than his friends and peers. One by one, they'd left him behind, until all that was left was duty, and his commitment to teaching the next generation how to survive.

The irony wasn't wasted on him, now that he'd confronted it. Why survive for an empty life? A Konoha shinobi's existence was defined by the Will of Fire, the desire above all to protect his precious people. He knew he still felt that for the children he taught, but other than Naruto, who was left for him personally? Who were his precious people, the ones who fed the flames he would need in order to protect Konoha until his last breath?

Gone. His loved ones, with the exception of Naruto, were dead.

When had his life slipped away from him? How many early morning workouts, how many days of classes, how many silent nights alone, grading, at home? Though it hurt and shamed him, he could see why Hatake held him in such contempt. Hell, he was feeling something similar. When had he become content with living his life day to day, an unbroken pattern of empty rooms, full classes and the monotony of the mission desk?

Hatake didn't want him to be the Guardian. He could probably make a lot of trouble about it if he chose to, in fact. He was one of Konoha's most highly-regarded nin, and rightly so. He'd been protecting the hidden village all of his life. Hatake was older than him, yet he wasn't washed up.

Again. Again. Again.

Damn it. He was pathetic. What good did it do to feel sorry for himself like this? Self-pity was something he'd never allowed himself to indulge in before, he'd be damned if he'd wallow in it now. So what if he hadn't been on a high-ranked mission in ten years? And even though his precious people had gone before him, he still honored their memory. He refused to be weak, to lessen the sacrifice each of his loved ones had made for him and for Konoha. He was Umino Iruka. He'd show them how much he loved them by fighting just as hard as they had.

Fuck it. He was damned if Hatake would take him down. He'd be Guardian if it killed him.

Iruka's kicks took on new power.

Oo000oO

Three weeks. They only had three weeks. Less, now. Two weeks and a handful of days.

Iruka looked around the vast room, feeling desperate despite his earlier resolution. They'd never get all of the necessary traps cleared, especially not if that idiot didn't show up to help. He hated to admit it to himself, but he could have used Hatake's Sharingan and his field expertise during the past few hours.

Despite Hatake's no-show, he'd still managed to get a good stretch done. The sheer variety of traps amazed him: seals woven amongst chakra thread, explosive tags balanced so finely a breath could set them off, genjutsu hiding poisoned senbon – that last had nearly put an end to his new career, in fact.

Part of him wished he had unlimited time to finish the task. He itched to take notes on the intricacies of each trap he unraveled, but had to settle for noting patterns and layers instead, notes jotted hastily on a clean copy of the map as he tried – and so far, failed – to find an underlying pattern that could give him a clue to Koya's seemingly random collection of hair-trigger jutsu.

The rest of him wished he could burn the hellhole to the ground.

"Yo."

Iruka whirled. "Where the hell have you been?"

Hatake leaned in the doorway, his nose buried in one of his damned _Icha Icha_ books. "A student was stuck in a tree, so I gave him a kunai to cut himself down," he said, turning a page.

It sounded like either Iruka's substitute had been overcome by the little hellions in his/her care, or Hatake was lying. Unfortunately, it could be either or both. "Oh, good. Now that you've armed a mini-psychopath with a lethal weapon, I could really use your help."

"Maa, sensei- " Hatake drawled, still reading. "Oh. Pardon me. _Guardian_-"

Iruka clenched his jaw, but said nothing.

"—I'm yours to command."

"This is a serious job," Iruka said. He was proud that he'd managed to keep his tone somewhat even. "Even if you find me contemptible, you should honor the mission we've been assigned. And if it's impossible for you to act professionally, at least shut up and have the decency to think of what might happen to Konoha if we screw up."

Hatake lowered his book, rolled his eye and sighed. "Yes, sensei. Where would you like me to start?"

Iruka rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. "I've been thinking that we should try to stabilize the areas we don't have to clear right away and focus on the areas where the most dangerous scrolls are stored. Do you agree?"

"Sounds as good as anything." Looking a bit less antagonistic, Hatake raised his hitai-ate and scanned the room with his Sharingan. "I'm impressed," he added.

"By what?"

"Your progress."

Iruka blinked. "Um, thanks." He waited for the snide comment sure to follow, but was surprised when Hatake turned back to him with a smile, instead.

"You've managed to get quite far since yesterday." He lowered his hitai-ate to cover his eye again.

"Check in, here," Iruka said cautiously. "Are you being sincere?"

Hatake's eye closed and curved in response, and though Iruka knew the smile wasn't real, he wasn't sure if it was forced politeness or just plain mocking. "I see you managed to disable that particularly nasty decapitation trap," Hatake said.

Iruka suppressed a shudder. That trap had been pure evil. "Yes. Well. I think that one took about ten years off my life."

"Ah. Perhaps it's regressed you back far enough to remember being a shinobi."

"And my question is answered," Iruka muttered to himself. "Right," he said, addressing Hatake. "Do you think if I gave you a five-minute opportunity to make as many rude comments about my qualifications as you can, you might get enough of your resentment out of your system so that we can get to work? Because I'm willing to take a short break. After all, I've been here for several hours already."

"Improv works best for me, I find," Hatake replied. His thumb caressed the cover of his _Icha Icha_.

Iruka rolled his eyes. "If you put your porn away, maybe some of your blood might leak back up to your brain and inspire you to be more original."

Hatake's eyebrow rose and he looked at Iruka, speculation plainly showing through his mask. "I thought this was my turn to insult you."

"What? Afraid of something an expendable chuunin might say?"

Hatake suddenly leered. "You know, you remind me of an _Icha Icha_ heroine, all smartass comebacks. If you weren't such a prudish control-freak, you'd be almost attractive."

Iruka froze. He could feel his face flushing dangerously red as he tried to rein in his immediate homicidal impulse. "I'm not a prude."

"Spank me, sensei," Hatake drawled.

"Are you sure you want to let a kunai-carrying chuunin like me get that close to the Hatake jewels?" Iruka asked, narrowing his eyes. "Because I'd be only too happy to oblige."

Hatake blinked and a genuine grin slipped out, obvious despite the mask. "Now that sounds like a challenge."

Iruka rolled his eyes. "Hardly. Not interested, Hatake-san."

"So meticulously polite." Hatake shook his head. "Maa, sensei, since it seems like we're destined to be enemies, why don't you just call me by name and drop all of the honorifics?"

"I'm not your enemy," Iruka retorted. "I'm just not your friend. Now, are you going to help me untangle that mess of fire traps in front of us, or shall I just use you as a battering ram and have you spring them all with your inflated ego?"

"I'm not sure the Hokage's tower would survive the combustion," Hatake smirked.

A grin tugged at the corner of Iruka's mouth. "At least you have a grasp of the obvious."

Another leer. Strange, how much the man's single eye could express. "I could take grasp of _your_ 'obvious', if you like."

Iruka snorted, but chuckled. "I'll pass, thank you. Hatake."

"Iruka."

"Kakashi."

Iruka grinned and Hatake grinned back.

"I think my five minutes are up," Hatake said. "Pity. It was just getting interesting."

Iruka snorted, annoyed and amused. "You just wanted to get up my nose."

Hatake leaned against the doorjamb again and crossed his arms, his gaze traveling down Iruka's body. "I wouldn't mind getting up other bits of your anatomy, too, sensei."

"Easy shot, I gave you that one. But getting back to the non-sexual task at hand," Iruka replied, hoping the tentative camaraderie might last at least a few minutes, "what are your thoughts about how to tackle that mess in front of us?"


	5. Chapter 5

Thank you to everyone who has left such lovely comments. I'm glad that you're enjoying the story so far.

Chapter Five

The rising sun was still behind the trees when Kakashi visited the Memorial Stone.

Rain lingered in the air, overnight showers that smelled of wet dirt and a hint of turning leaves as maples hovered on the threshold of color. The day promised late summer cicada song, but the taste of frost hung at the edge of dawn.

While the season change was Kakashi's favorite in terms of comfortable living, it was the worst professionally. The waning of summer marked the time when he needed to start thinking again of hiding puffs of frozen breath or the rustle of leaves as he stalked his targets. He always felt rusty after weeks of forgiving green and warm air. Spring, summer – even winter, when snow muffled the world – were much preferable to a shinobi intent on carrying out his mission as efficiently and safely as possible.

Of course, this year it hardly mattered. No more missions.

Kakashi traced the characters with his fingertips to awaken the ghosts. "Hi, Obito. Good morning, Sensei, Rin. Everyone." He brushed his fingers across the smooth, cool stone once more before stepping back.

"You're probably wondering why I haven't been talking much, lately. It's because I've been thinking." He snorted. "Shut up, Obito. At least _I_ think."

He paused. No. No, he still couldn't tell his precious people about the blown mission, Tsunade's Intelligence ultimatum, the humiliation of being assigned to be a chuunin's assistant. His failures.

Although there might be the chance to redeem himself, at least a bit. If he and Umino could miraculously get that labyrinth of traps settled, he might have the opportunity to read his Sensei's notes. Perhaps even carry on his work.

_"Sensei, when are you going to teach me how to use_ Hiraishin no Jutsu_?"_

_Minato-sensei continued to jot down calculations on the scroll in front of him, but a smile played across his face. "I can teach you the jutsu any time, Kakashi-kun. But you can't use it yet. You don't have enough chakra reserves."_

_Kakashi frowned. "I have more than any other chuunin, you said."_

_"Mmm. But that isn't a technique that a chuunin can do. I don't even know any jounin who could do it."_

_"Not even the Hokage?"_

_Minato-sensei shook his head. "Not even the Hokage. Don't push it, brat. I know you. If I teach it to you, the next thing I know, I'll be lugging your half-dead carcase back from the training ground. I'll probably strain my back."_

_Kakashi snorted. "You're such a liar."_

_"The mark of a true shinobi," Minato-sensei teased. "Why don't you go out and train your summons for a bit?"_

_"Hn." Kakashi leaned against his sensei's shoulder. "I don't recognize those seals."_

_"It's something new." Minato-sensei glanced up at Kakashi before returning to his work. "Something forbidden."_

_Forbidden sounded good. "Can you teach me?"_

_"Not yet. I'm still not finished."_

_"What will it do?"_

_Minato-sensei's expression seemed to go blank; his brush stopped moving, ink puddling beneath it. "Stop time."_

_"That's impossible," Kakashi decreed, confident in his facts. "Nobody can do that."_

_Minato-sensei met his gaze and Kakashi frowned, confused by the pain he saw in his sensei's face. "I hope you're right," Minato-sensei replied, his voice soft and infinitely, infinitely sad._

In retrospect, Kakashi could better understand his sensei's fears. The work he'd been doing was dangerous, the implications of its possible misuse horrifying. If those notes were in the Lair, and if progress was to be made on his research, Kakashi wanted it to be done by someone like him who had known the Fourth, and could continue the work knowing and honoring the sacrifice he'd made for his people, and who was strong enough to keep the knowledge from doing harm. A small gift, but at least it gave him something to offer back to the ones he'd failed.

Though even if Kakashi learned the technique, he would still be years behind his brilliant sensei's work.

With a start, he realized that the Minato in his memory had been younger than Kakashi now was. In his twenties, and brilliant in a way that Kakashi's more physical and strategic genius had never explored. What had the seals looked like...? All Kakashi remembered were numbers and formulas and chakra diagrams, and the warmth of Sensei's body and the incredible golden-yellow of his hair as he'd leaned over the man's shoulder, bored and envious and wanting nothing but to become more like Sensei.

It was sobering to realize that Sensei had been so much greater than he could ever be, even though he never saw his thirtieth birthday. Almost humiliating, in fact, given Kakashi's thirty-seven years and reputation as a genius. Another failure, it would appear.

So many of them.

Kakashi smiled, his eye curving and his heart empty. Time to change the subject. "Things are the same here, not much change," he lied. "Still waiting for another field assignment." Which really wasn't a lie, because he'd wait forever if it meant he could take a mission. Even if he knew that no assignment worthy of their sacrifice and the pride he so desperately wanted them to feel in his continued existence would likely ever be assigned to him again. "Jiraiya, I've got a proposition for you. While I'm waiting, why don't you use me as a medium for your next _Icha Icha_ book? Yeah, my writing is sloppy, but that's what editors are for, right? Just... let me know when inspiration hits." He bowed his head as Obito's damned eye started leaking, right on schedule, just like it always did. "Anytime. I'll be waiting."

He fell silent and listened for their words.

Oo000oO

Though it wasn't any of Kakashi's business, really, still he felt – in the spirit of public interest only, not in any kind of a personal way, or because the Hokage expected it of him – a responsibility to make sure that Umino Iruka didn't screw up.

He swung by the training ground on his way to the Tower, just in time to see Umino leave the field, headed in the direction of the Academy. Kakashi trailed after him over the rooftops, curious to see where Umino lived, since he presumed that was where the man was headed.

Umino veered left after a few blocks and approached an older, somewhat run-down apartment building. He paused by an outside stairwell.

"Bingo," Kakashi breathed. He crouched deeper into the shadows of the roof and hid his chakra.

"You can stop following me and come in, Kakashi-san." Umino didn't bother to turn.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. Had he been that clumsy, or was Umino more alert than he appeared? No point in hiding either way, so he dropped silently to the ground next to Umino. "Yo."

"'Yo' yourself," Umino replied, but his tone was mild. "I'm making tea. Want any?"

Kakashi shrugged and followed Umino up the steps.

Even though, like the rest of the village, the building had to have been rebuilt after Pein's attack, it had an air of rundown age to it. Long cracks meandered up the stucco beside them as they climbed to the top floor, and the paint was worn and dirty. They passed several levels of outdoor corridors cluttered with wind-blown detritus and hung with lines of wash, door after identical door lined up at regular intervals along the inner wall. No windows – not overlooking the corridor, at least – though all of the doors had standard peepholes, Kakashi noticed. The security was so minimal as to be embarrassing. Nothing like the jounin quarter where Kakashi and his peers lived.

Nothing like a real shinobi's home.

"Most of the people living here are civilians," Iruka said, as if reading Kakashi's mind. "Young families, some older people living on their own."

"Why do you stay?" Surely a schoolteacher's salary had to be sufficient to allow Umino to live somewhere else a bit less rundown.

Umino shrugged. "My unit is big, bigger than I could afford elsewhere. I've got roof access, too. It's fairly private since no other shinobi live in the building."

He led the way up the last flight of stairs and down the corridor to the end door. This walkway was a bit cleaner than the ones below, leaves and dirt neatly swept away and the stucco patched and re-painted where it had broken. Reaching out a bit, Kakashi could feel a trace of chakra near the door. _Umino must put traps on it_, he thought, just before he thought, _wait, that's not Umino's-_

He had Umino's wrist in his hand and was yanking him away even as the key went into the lock and a fireball tore through Umino's door and blasted open the side of the building. Heat blazed past them a split second before the shockwave sent them flying and the corridor disappeared under their feet. Kakashi caught a glimpse of crumbling rooftop above them from the corner of his eye.

"Hang on!" He pulled Umino close and managed the seals for a one-handed teleportation jutsu. He knew it couldn't take them far, and it didn't: they landed hard in the street, Kakashi holding Umino tight and rolling to absorb the momentum of the blast and their fall. They stopped hard against the curb, panting.

Umino struggled away and staggered to his feet, lurching back toward the building. "There are people in there!"

Kakashi leapt up and wrestled him back. "You can't help them," he said, watching flames shoot dozens of feet into the sky. In the distance he could hear sirens. "Help is coming."

"They won't be in time!" Umino hissed in pain as Kakashi tightened his grip on his arm. "Let go!"

"You're burnt."

Umino paused and looked at him. "So are you."

The words seemed to release all of the pain Kakashi's endorphins had been busy hiding, bringing with them the raw burning ache of flashburns on his face and hands. The smell of scorched cloth and singed hair filled his nose. "Ouch," he said.

Umino's exposed skin and clothing didn't look much better, but his eyes flamed bright with anger. "It's not funny!" He looked back at the burning building with an expression of hopeless anguish. "Please let everyone have already left for work or gone to the market," he whispered, almost inaudible.

Kakashi didn't know which kami Umino was praying to, but he doubted that he would get his wish. It was too early in the morning. Chances were that some of them had still been in their beds.

Umino closed his eyes and looked like he was going to be sick. "I know I didn't leave the gas on or anything stupid like that. What the hell happened?"

Now that he was no longer struggling, Kakashi found himself aware of the play of muscles he felt underneath Umino's vest, the tension that crackled through his chakra and body. The teacher was stronger than he'd imagined, just looking at him. He hoped Umino was strong enough for this.

"Someone trapped your apartment. I saw someone else's chakra signature on your door just before the explosion"

"Why—?" Umino turned back to him, his eyes wide with panic. "The Lair!"

Kakashi swore and brought his hands up, fingers flying through the seals as he berated himself for not making the connection as quickly as Umino had. He felt Umino grab his arm and then they were teleporting, materializing in the hallway outside the Hokage's office.

Kakashi instantly shoved Umino behind him and struck aside a flurry of kunai thrown by the ANBU guards. "There's been a security breach," he snapped at them. "I need a detail to meet us at the entrance to the lower level. I want that level sealed off _now_!"

The ANBU wearing the Crow mask hesitated, then nodded and disappeared just as Tsunade burst out of her office. "What the hell is going on out here?"

The other guard flanked her immediately; Kakashi could feel the ANBU's chakra blanketing the area in search of any threats.

"An assassination attempt on Umino," he reported tersely. "I think the Lair may have been breached."

"Damn!" Tsunade glared at them. "Well, why aren't you-?"

"On our way," Kakashi interrupted. He grabbed Umino. "Come on, sensei. Time to earn your new salary."

Oo000oO

Though the search and investigation seemed to take hours, Iruka was surprised to see it was only mid-morning when he returned to report to the Godaime.

Tsunade-sama leaned over her desk, her eyes flashing. "Did they get anything?"

Iruka shook his head. "No. Whoever it was didn't get into the Lair. I put a Killing Lock trap on the door when I left to train this morning. Someone had sprung it, and there was blood, but the secondary backup traps I have on the door hadn't been disturbed. He must have dodged the worst of the first trap and managed to escape. Ibiki is analyzing the blood sample."

She chewed on her bottom lip. "That's a nasty trap. You should have found a body. The intruder must have been jounin level, at least."

Iruka nodded. "Kakashi-san thought the same thing." He shifted uneasily, dreading his next question. "Tsunade-sama?" When she looked up, he asked softly, "How many?"

Tsunade didn't pretend not to know what he was asking. She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Three."

_Waking up in the morning, drinking coffee, dying in an explosion… _

"It could have been worse, Iruka."

Three of his neighbors. Dead, because of him. Because of his job.

Tsunade must have understood his silence, because she dropped her hand and glared at him. "It's not your fault! Someone out there is a traitor. And that traitor just killed three of my people." She pointed at Iruka. "It's your job to find him and stop him!"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Iruka replied. Something inside him felt frozen.

She frowned at him for a moment, then sighed. "Iruka. This attack and its consequences are not your fault," she repeated, her tones not so harsh, yet not really gentle, either. Iruka could tell he was trying her limited patience. "I'll have Shizune requisition a temporary apartment for you close by-"

"No." Iruka winced; he hadn't meant to interrupt like that, but he couldn't really bear the thought of trying to build a new home at the moment. He needed to focus on other things. "There's living quarters attached to the Lair. I'll stay there."

"You can't hide away forever, you know." Tsunade's gaze was shrewd. "I'm not having my best schoolteacher turn into another Koya."

Iruka didn't bother to deny her accusation. He knew he was running away. But how could he face his neighbors – oh hell, or his students – knowing his presence could endanger them? No, moving to the Lair was best. "If that's all, Tsunade-sama, I'll get back to work."

He caught a glimpse of Tsunade-sama rolling her eyes as he bowed, but ignored it and left as quickly as he could.

When he reached the Lair, he found Kakashi-san braced over the map on the desk. The jounin didn't bother to turn around, just asked, "What did she say?"

Iruka closed the door and set a silence jutsu on it so no one could overhear them. "Three people were ki—"

"Not about that." Kakashi-san frowned at the map. "About the security breach."

_And here I was ready to forget our differences and try to be civil to the cold-hearted bastard._ To hell with the familiarity and honorifics. Hatake didn't deserve his respect. Priorities be damned, the man didn't have to be so heartless about what had happened. "It's my problem. I'm supposed to let her know what I want."

Hatake grunted. "You can't do this alone."

"I wouldn't be if you were actually helping me instead of being an ass."

Hatake turned away from the map. "So now it's my fault that the security that you've set up is inadequate."

"No! I'm responsible for it." But he could use some help, which Hatake seemed unwilling to give him, regardless of his promise a few days earlier. "Do you have a better idea?" he challenged.

"A revolving guard, with people we know we can trust. Kurenai and Gai and their teams-"

Hatake's suggestion made sense, as much as Iruka wanted to hate it because Hatake had made it.

"And Naruto," Iruka added, mentally chastising himself for not thinking of him earlier. He was too used to being self-reliant. He took a deep breath and tried to release his anger. "Thank you. That's a good suggestion."

"You're not used to thinking in terms of teams," Hatake said. "You can't afford to make such elementary mistakes."

Iruka said nothing; Hatake was right.

He was aware of Hatake looking at him, his visible eye cold with contempt. "Nothing like a few deaths to make you serious, eh, sensei?"

Iruka's control broke. "You bastard!" He struggled to keep from shouting, but then thought to hell with it, nobody else could hear him, anyway. "Those people had lives! They had family and friends who loved them! They died when they shouldn't have!"

"I can't believe that the possibility that innocents could get involved never occurred to you," Hatake replied. "You were the person who chose to live without proper security measures in place."

The words cut Iruka like a sword, slicing past his anger to leave him nauseated by his incompetence. He _was_ the one who was responsible. He'd placed his neighbors in that danger. He hadn't meant to. He just hadn't thought…

Legs shaking too hard for him to stand, Iruka braced himself against the wall and slid down, burying his face in his hands, the guilt overwhelming. "I never thought… I'm not important enough…"

"You're the Guardian. You must survive if you're going to protect Konoha. You can't do that by endangering yourself and others."

Once again, Iruka's preconceptions of his role were shaken. Hatake was right, of course. He'd been so concerned about whether or not the time he'd spend as the Guardian would interfere with his teaching that he hadn't seriously thought about how he should re-prioritize his life to fit his new position.

Teaching was out, he realized. It wasn't just a matter of exposing his students to danger, but of keeping the secrets of Konoha protected by protecting himself as the Guardian. He couldn't live his old life any longer. He couldn't take any unnecessary risks that might jeopardize the Lair's security by placing himself in danger of possible abduction or assassination.

The thought devastated him as the true cost of his new position was suddenly made clear to him. Not only would he never teach again, he'd never work the mission desk again. Never have casual friendships again. Never live next to a young couple and watch their kids for a few hours, or go to the market to do the shopping for an elderly neighbor. He'd never be able to afford to take strangers on faith again, or to reach out to someone because it was better to take a chance and trust a person until they proved themselves unworthy than it was to distrust and hold people at a distance.

No. He couldn't do it. The price was too high. He'd never asked for this position, wasn't qualified for it, didn't have the necessary training needed to not only do his job, but to put aside his emotions in favor of his responsibilities, no matter who he hurt or killed in the process.

_"Everyone tells me you're the best. Something about a misspent youth."_

... But Tsunade-sama had placed her faith in him.

Knowing that, did he really have a choice? Was there an option for him that would allow him to walk away from this job, an option that didn't involve becoming a missing nin or sacrificing his self-respect?

No. Not unless he was willing to consider himself a coward for the rest of his life.

In the end, what it came down to was one simple thing: the Hokage had trusted him with this task. He had a responsibility to serve where she needed him, and she'd told him that she needed him here. He couldn't turn away from that. There were other people who could teach, other people who could welcome new friends or help neighbors or judge trustworthiness. But there weren't many others who could strip complex traps, or could set up the security system he'd been imagining to himself as he worked his way deeper into the Lair and analyzed its vulnerabilities.

He finally raised his head. "You're right, Hatake-san. I haven't taken my responsibilities seriously enough, nor did I take into account the consequences if I didn't." He wiped his sleeve across his face, pushed himself to his feet, and met Hatake's eyes with determination and not a small amount of humility. "That changes now."


End file.
